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Fair Territory: NLDS Game 3 previews, Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs Chris Sale, Rays & White Sox lead 2-0 · Foul Territory

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome, everyone, to Fair Territory, the Division Series edition. Four
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: series in progress right now. Three of them are 2-0,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: teams leading two games to none. And we'll get into
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: each of them to some degree, and we'll get into
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: which teams we think have the best chance of coming
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: back from 2-0, but it's not something that happens very often. Actually,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: in this format, teams with a 2-0 lead and a
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: best of five in baseball history have won the series
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: 83 out of 93 times. That's 89%. The last team
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: to come back from 2-0 was the 2017 Yankees. They
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: did it against the then Cleveland Indians, if you remember that.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: And then before that, the last team to do it
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: after losing the first two at home, that was the
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: 2015 Toronto Blue Jays versus the Texas Rangers. That was
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: a great series, if you remember. I had it on Fox,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: and that was the Bautista home run and all that. So,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: It's not impossible. It's difficult, but we've got some interesting
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: things going on, to say the least, starting with the
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Chicago White Sox, really the hottest team in the postseason,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: haven't lost yet, and they're up 2-0 on the Guardians.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: They have done this with openers in each of the
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: first two games, and they have a chance now, and
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: this blows my mind, a chance to have a home
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: clencher for the first time since 1906, 120 years since
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: the White Sox clinched a postseason series at home. Didn't
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: happen in 2005. They, of course, won the World Series
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: and the ALCS on the road. A.J. Pruszynski can tell
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: us all about that. So it's kind of an amazing
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: opportunity in front of the White Sox now, and they
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: played really well. And they are not a great team.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: No one would confuse them with a great team, but
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: give them all the credit in the world. Beat Houston,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: they're up 2-0 on the Guardians, their division rival, and
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: a team that actually I thought was going to win
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: this series. So hail to the White Sox for what
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: they've accomplished so far. The bigger story in the American League,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: of course, is the Yankees' latest October meltdown. You saw
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: it last night. It was not pretty. Three errors in
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the first inning, four in all, and actually... There were
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: some other misplays as well. It was reminiscent of Game
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: 5 in the 2024 World Series. Not exactly the same,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: of course, but it's a running theme here. And the
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: running theme, as we've discussed over the years, is that
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: the Yankees' attention to detail, the finer points of the game,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: that's not their strong suit. And if they lose this
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: series to Tampa Bay... The attention will not be on
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Aaron Judge and him not being present and available for
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: this series, but that's certainly a factor. It's going to
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: be on why is this team incapable of playing better,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: cleaner baseball? And again, not something that's new here. And
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: what is the definition of insanity? The definition of insanity
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: is doing the same thing over and over and again
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: when it doesn't work. Hasn't worked for the Yankees. Now,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: They are a better defensive team than they were two
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: years ago in that 2024 World Series. They're still not good, though,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: and it's still a problem. Tampa Bay, of course, Drew
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Rasmussen in Game 1 was brilliant. Freddy Peralta last night, okay,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: good enough, and they've gotten great work out of their
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: bullpen as well. Nick Martinez is next. That's not going
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: to be an easy one for the Yankees, but the
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Yankees do have Freed, Rodon, and Schlittler lined up if
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: they extend this series. They have a chance. They're going
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: back home. But, again, they're playing a team that is
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: much more fundamentally sound, a team that puts the ball
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: in play like no other in baseball, lowest strikeout rate
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: in the game. You've got to play clean. Yankees know it,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: and they are incapable, it seems, of playing clean over
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: an extended period of time. All right, that is the
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: American League. Let's get to the National League. All right,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: here we go. Padres. First of all, here is a
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: team that is heading home, facing elimination, and really, if
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: you're the Padres, you're thinking, we really maybe should be
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: up 2-0 here. The games were that close. We, of course,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: had the incident in Game 1 with the ball going
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: off the cable, and in Game 2, the incredible comeback
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: against Mason Miller by the Brewers, capped off by Jackson
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Churrio's walk-off hit. The Padres... Of the teams down 2-0
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: right now, in my estimation, are the ones, the Padres
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: are the ones, with the best chance of coming back.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Why do I say that? They're a different team at Petco,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: for starters. They're a momentum team that rides the emotion
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: of that crowd, which is arguably the best crowd in
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: baseball right now. 51-30 at home. I also like the
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: pitching matchup for them in Game 3, Pavetta against Dustin May.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: I know Dustin May has great numbers against the Padres
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: this season, but overall, since joining the Brewers, Dustin May
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: has been quite inconsistent. So if the Padres get going here, yeah,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: maybe there's a chance. Now, the Brewers last year, if
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: you remember, against the Cubs, they went up 2-0 at home,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: then lost the next two at Wrigley Field before winning
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: game five at home. That scenario, of course, could take
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: place here, and you would think the Brewers' experience in
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: that particular circumstance will only help them here. And they've
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: got Miz ready for game five if necessary. So they're
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: in a commanding position. There's no question about that. But
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: what this series has demonstrated more than anything is how
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: narrow the margins are in October. It's incredible how difficult
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: it is, one, to win a postseason game, to win
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: a postseason series, to win a World Series. And you
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: see it because these games are often so close. The
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Padres are a really good team. They went on this
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: incredible run at the end of the season, 41-18. Now
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: they're in a situation where they've got to come back
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: and they've got to win three straight. Okay, not easy
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: to do against the best team in baseball, arguably, but
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: something that they are capable of. Now the Brewers, they're
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: a team that we've seen all year long. And for
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: a national audience, casual fans tuning in, they might wonder,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: the heck do they win games? But they win games
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: because they do a lot of things well. Really, almost
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: everything well. They're the anti-Yankees like the Rays are the anti-Yankees,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: even though they were a bit sloppy in game two.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: And you see Churio right there. He is a star.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: And people talk about how there aren't necessarily homegrown stars
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: for some of these small market teams. He's one who's
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: not only a star, but he's signed long term. And
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: he signed before he even got to the big leagues.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: His hands are are so fast, it's incredible. The assistant
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: hitting coach for the Brewers, Daniel Vogelbach, told me earlier
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: this season that, cheerio, there's not a fastball you can
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: get by him, and we saw that the other night
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: against Mason Miller. So they have hit for some power
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: in this series. Everybody says, oh, the Brewers don't hit
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: home runs. They don't hit as many as most, but
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: they do do that. They generally play good defense. They
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: generally run the bases really well. We saw that with
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Freelick turning third base the other night. So they're a
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: tough team to beat. Petco is going to be an
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: interesting challenge because that place will be a madhouse, and
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: certainly it's going to be really interesting to see how
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: this all plays out because I do expect this series
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: is not going to end in three games. Could, but
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: it seems to me these two teams are too even
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: for it to happen that way. Now, the series I
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: am on for Fox, Dodgers versus Braves, of all the
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: series that we looked at going into these division series,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: we would have thought maybe this was the one that
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: would be 2-0 at this point. Instead, it's the only
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: one that is not 2-0. And as I wrote coming
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: off game two, the Braves' great victory in the bullpen
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: game started by Ray Kerr, got the incredible performance from
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Didier Fuentes, and then closing it out with Iglesias. The
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Dodgers have been in tight spots in division series history.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: This is now the sixth straight year. If you go back,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: and I went back in the article doing this, 2021
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: against the Giants, it went five games. You had the
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Wilmer Flores controversial strikeout to end it. 2022 and 23,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: they lose in the division series to the Padres and Diamondbacks. 2024,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: they almost lose again to the Padres. Probably should have
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: lost that series. And then 2025, a difficult series against
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: the Phillies, but they end up winning it. And here
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: we are. It's 1-1 with Chris Sale on the mound
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: tonight against Yoshinobu Yamamoto. One of the great matchups you
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: will see at any point of the year. We actually
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: saw it August 27th. The Braves were home against the Dodgers.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Those two pitchers faced each other and the Braves prevailed 1-0.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Both guys obviously were brilliant. So we're all looking forward
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: to that. And now there is at least a path
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: for the Braves to win this series. And it's going
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: to be Obviously, a huge challenge still because you never
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: have the pitching advantage against the Dodgers. Okay, you've got
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Sale tonight, but they've got Yamamoto. Tyler Malley tomorrow, he
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: has been the best pitcher in terms of ERA who
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: changed teams since the deadline ahead of even Tarek Skubal.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: But he too is a guy that is matched up
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: against Tyler Glass now who, when right, is really good.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: But of course, these things are not played out on paper.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Blake Snell was not good in Game two. And the
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Braves suddenly coming home, I'm sure, are feeling really good
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: about their chances. So we'll see what happens. And the
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: real question here is the Dodgers and the Dodgers offense.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: And is it going to be the dynamic offense that
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: we've seen at times this season or with Shohei struggling?
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: with some of their other hitters struggling, is this going
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: to be a case where maybe they don't get it
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: going and maybe they get knocked out before they get
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: a chance to really get on a roll? It's going
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: to be, again, a huge test for them. Lineup changes
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: expected tonight for the Dodgers. Maybe Kike Hernandez at third,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Miguel Rojas at second, again, against a left-handed sale. They're
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: in a tough spot here, but they've got Yamamoto, who,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: of course, was the World Series MVP last season, and
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: it's going to be for them A really tough night,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: but one in which they prevail. If they do prevail,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: they're in a great spot. All right. After the last
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: out tonight, flip over to the Foul Territory YouTube channel
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: for a live postgame show. Todd Frazier, Kevin Pillar, and
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Heidi Watney break down who has the upper hand and
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: whose backs are against the wall. FT postgame show live
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: tonight right after Dodgers-Braves and LDS Game 3. Now, MLB
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: on Fox is streaming on Fox 1. That's our show
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: is the MLB on Fox. The postseason is here. We
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: have your front row seat to the wildest walk-offs, lights
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: out pitching, and clutch plays all playoffs long. Stream each
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: NLDS and NLCS game, then the 2026 World Series live
• 11:35
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• 11:37
  Speaker 1: or on demand. Never miss a moment. Stream now. Start
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: your Fox One three-day free trial today at foxone.com. All right,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: time now for the Inside Dish, the part of the
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: show where I talk about the story I've written, trend
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: in the game, or maybe something from my deep past.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: And that's where we're going today. Three days from now
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: will be the 30-year anniversary of the Jeffrey Mayer game
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: at Yankee Stadium. And why am I thinking about the
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Mayer game? Well, it comes to my mind often
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: because it was a very interesting game, to say the least.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: But I'm thinking about it because of what happened to
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: the Padres at Miller Park the other night when they
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: had the ball bounce off the cable and obviously the
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: game turned when it was not ruled a home run.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: That was a most unfortunate event. It's the kind of
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: crazy thing that sometimes happened and can happen in the postseason.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: And it's the kind of thing that happened 30 years
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: ago when Jeffrey Mayer, a 12-year-old kid sitting in the
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: right field bleachers at the old Yankee Stadium, reached over
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: the fence on a ball hit by Derek Jeter and
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: with the Orioles leading in the eighth inning, reaches over
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: the fence to flex it into the stands for a
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: home run. The game gets tied. The Yankees win game
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: one of the 1996 ALCS and then go on to
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: win four games to one. And in that game, or
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: in that series, the Orioles actually won the second game.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: And I remember their general manager, Pat Gillick, saying, I
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: feel like we are up 2-0 because they got shafted
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: in the first game. Now, Back then, I was a
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: columnist for the Baltimore Sun, a sports columnist, and covered
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: all the sports. But baseball was my main focus. I
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: started at the Baltimore Evening Sun as the Orioles beat writer. So,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: of course, I was at that game. Baltimore, at the time,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: had just gotten football back. And we had everybody there.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: We had a ton of staff. I wrote a column
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: that night. After the Jeffrey Mayer game, in which the
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Orioles felt they got shafted because it wasn't called fan interference,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Tony Tarasco, the right fielder, raised his hands right away.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Richie Garcia blew the call, the umpire, and that was that.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Jeter home run. Of course it was Jeter. Everything good
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: happened for Jeter. So I wrote a column basically saying, hey,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: when I grew up, my dad was from the Bronx,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: and when we would play one-on-one basketball... He would kind
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: of push me around a little bit. I'd call a
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: foul and he'd say, no, man, it's Bronx rules. And
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: that's kind of how he would operate when we would
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: play one-on-one. He was not abusive or anything like that,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: but he played a little rough. So I wrote a
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: column basically saying, it's now time for the fans to
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: play by Bronx rules in Baltimore. You see, this is
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: the AI version. I couldn't get the whole thing because
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: it was under a payroll. I don't have Baltimore Sun subscription,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: believe it or not. And it says, in the article,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Rosenthal explained the aggressive hometown culture of Yankee Stadium as
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: Bronx rules. He essentially advised Orioles fans, abandon traditional politeness,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: adopt an eye-for-eye mentality, and play by those exact same
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: ruthless rules if a similar opportunity arose in Baltimore. Accurate
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: description of what I wrote. Basically, I was, well, I
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: could be accused of trying to incite a riot. I
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: had things in the column saying fans should bring big
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: nets and get the balls, you know, as they fly
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: toward the wall and all these things. And there was
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: also in the AI summary, a part saying that there
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: was an intense backlash, even educators protested saying this is
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: not the kind of thing that should be written. I
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: don't remember an intense backlash to the column. It was
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: a time when there was no Twitter, no social media,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: no internet really. And It wasn't like today. It was
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: actually kind of quiet when you wrote something like that.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: People could write a letter to the editor, but that
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: was about it. It was honestly blissful for someone like
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: me who was a writer. Because today there's a lot
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: of noise, as you know. But anyway, the series continued.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: The Yankees won that game and, of course, went on
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: to win the ALCS. And that was the first of
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: their World Series titles under Joe Torre. Could have changed
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: maybe if they had Not won that first game. Who knows?
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: But they did win the series four games to one. Now,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: one more thing to mention when recalling this whole event.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: I remember coming home from New York and sitting at
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: breakfast one morning. Actually, the first morning after I came home.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Series is one to one. I'm back home in Baltimore.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: And we're eating breakfast. My son is then five years old.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: And I say to him, hey, man, you see what
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: happened with that kid? in New York. You see how
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: he interfered with the play and how it all turned
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: out there? He goes, yeah. My son was five years old.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: He goes, I hate that kid. And that's kind of
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: how people in Baltimore felt. Jeffrey Mayer was a 12-year-old
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: kid who was about to have his bar mitzvah, and
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the theme of the bar mitzvah was going to be
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Yankees win the World Series. He became this minor celebrity
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: in New York. I believe he was on the Today Show.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: The New York Post turned him into the king of
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: the city. And over the years, I stayed in touch
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: with him a little bit. I remember writing about him,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: and he went to Wesleyan, and he became a really
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: good baseball player at Division III. And a year ago,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: or two years ago, I guess, there was a play,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: I don't recall, at Yankee Stadium or somewhere, where there
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: was an interference with Mookie Betts. I guess it was
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: the 24 World Series. Mookie Betts, Fan reached and grabbed him,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: and somebody from the Athletic called Jeffrey Mayer, who was
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: now 40 years old, father of three. He recalled the
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: events of when he was 12 years old. It's a
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: memory that stays with me, obviously. It's a memory that
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: came back to me, watching that Padres thing. And unfortunately,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: things happen in the postseason. Things happen in life that
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: are unfair, that you can't control. And... We're not sure
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: if Ty France's ball would have been a homer, right?
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: We're not sure about that. There's no way to know
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: for sure. But he certainly thinks so, as you see
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: from that tweet there. Jake Garagiani asked Ty France after
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: the game if he thought the ball that hit the
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: roof at American Family Field would have been fair and gone.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: His answer was simple, yep. And I'm sure a lot
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: of fans feel that way as well. Again, we'll never know.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: You know, Saris and Spencer Nussbaum from The Athletic wrote
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: a detailed account of whether this actually would have ended
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: up a home run or not based on all the
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: data available, it's just not clear. But that happened. Jeffrey
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Mayer happened 30 years ago. And sometimes there are just
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: unfortunate circumstances that occur that you just can't explain, that
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: you just can't rationalize, and that just kind of, eh,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: if you're on the losing end of it, stink. All right,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: we'll be back right after this.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: The 2026 MLB playoffs are here. And guess what? SeatGeek
• 18:58
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• 19:01
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• 19:03
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• 19:07
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• 19:09
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• 19:11
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• 19:14
  Speaker 2: There's some big teams going. Kratzy, tell us about it.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: I'm definitely going to a Brewers game. There's no bad
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: seats in Milwaukee. Because the stadium is right on top
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: of the field. It feels like you're in the grass.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: And you know what? If your team lost this year,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: go get yourself some concert tickets.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: They have it all. And of course, we have a
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• 19:49
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• 19:59
  Speaker 1: All right, time now for Grilling Ken, the part of
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: the show where I answer your questions. Let's get right
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: to them. First question comes from Matthew Heritage who asks,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: if the White Sox win the World Series, will other
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: teams try to copy a bullpen of two to three
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: inning arms? It's a fair question because if you're watching
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: the ALDS with the White Sox and Guardians, you've seen
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: what the White Sox are doing here. And they're using
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: openers and bulk guys and going with, yes, two inning
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: relievers at times and just kind of trying different things.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: They're doing this because they have to do this, not
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: because they want to do this. And people ask us
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: all the time, can you bullpen constantly? Can you just
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: go and use two inning guys and kind of figure
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: it out that way? It's really difficult. What teams want, ideally,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: are starting pitchers who go deep into games so you
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: can manage your bullpen appropriately, keep guys rested, keep them
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: on a reasonable schedule. Unfortunately, the way the game has evolved,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: with the de-emphasis on starting pitchers, the de-emphasis on them
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: going deep into games, we've seen bullpenning become a thing. Now,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: the White Sox are doing a great job of it.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: They've got Grant Taylor doing amazing things at the end
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: of games, pitching four innings at one point, two and
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: a third in another. He's closing it out like that.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: But it's not ideal. And I don't even know if
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: they can sustain it, although the off days certainly help.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: through the postseason? We're going to find out. Looks like
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: they'll get at least one more series if they can
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: close out the Guardians. But I can't imagine a team
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: wanting to do it this way. What a team wants
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: to do is do it the way the Dodgers have
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: with their gazillion-dollar rotation and have guys who can shut
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: you down any time in any game. All right, let's
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: go to the next question. This comes from Armand is amazing.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Armand S., Besides the big bats, which Padre has to
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: come up big? Well, certainly you'd start with Pavetta tonight.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: And Pavetta, after an injury-marred season, has been really good
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: for them. I don't have the numbers in front of me,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: but he has pitched extremely well. Their bullpen after a
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: day off should be rested and ready. I don't expect
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Mason Miller to have the same kind of problem with
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: the lead that he had the other night. That was
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: a two-inning save they were attempting. It didn't work out. But.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Clearly, you'd like to see their offense get going in
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: a bigger way. You'd like to see any of their
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: great hitters come through in a big way. So I
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: don't know that I would identify anyone specifically other than Pavetta.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: They just have to play what is their game at home,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: which is an electric, momentum-driven kind of– I don't even
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: know the words for it. It's pretty impressive when they're
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: going like they have gone pretty much the second half
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: of the season at Petco. All right, next question. This
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: one comes from Foul Territory Show. Good morning. How many
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: sweeps will we get? This is a tough one. I
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: expect there will be one sweep, if any. And I'm
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: not sure there will be any because I still see
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: the Guardians winning a game here. It's weird that the
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Guardians offense has disappeared. After the deadline, when they acquired
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Joe Adele and Nathaniel Lowe, they were eighth in the
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: majors in runs. Unusual for the Guardians, right? But in
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: these two games, seven hits, three runs, it's back to
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: the Guardians of old. Now, it's going to be a
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: blackout game at Chicago's home field, and we've seen those before.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: It's when the fans all wear black, and it's a
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: really cool atmosphere, and I'm sure it's going to be
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: electric there. So the Guardians are going to be challenged,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: no doubt, to win game three, and they fire their
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: two best pitchers, Messick and Williams, and haven't won. So
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: That one could be a sweep. I can't imagine the
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Yankees going down without winning one game here, and I
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: can't imagine the same thing happening to the Padres. So
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: my hope is no sweeps, but my guess is one.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: All right, we've got time for one more. Let's go.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Robbie Hyde. Robbie asked, do you expect the Red Sox
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: to make a big splash this offseason after a disappointing ending? Well,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: the Red Sox had their end-of-season news conference, and it
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: was the self-flagellation you would expect. We're disappointed. It's got
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: to be better. Okay, okay. I don't know what big
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: move is in store for them. They need more offense.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: They need to redo it a little bit, in my opinion,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: and not rely so much on Roman Anthony. Their pitching
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: is fairly set. What's different about this offseason coming up,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: of course, is that the lockout is going to start
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: December 1st. So it's going to be a month-long sprint
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: to make the early moves. The free agent market is
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: not very good, especially for hitters. So I don't know
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: what exactly would be the move for them, but I
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: would expect that they're going to pursue more offense. That
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: would be an understandable thing for them to do. All right,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: I want to thank everyone for watching and for listening.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Foul Territory is up at 1 p.m. Eastern. Hosts are A.J. Pruszynski,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Eric Kratz, Alana Rizzo. Guests include Braves announcer C.J. Nitkowski.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: And reminder, postgame tonight after Dodgers-Braves, and there's a postgame show,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: I'm saying, on Foul Territory Network, and we return Friday
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: at 1230 Eastern. Alana Rizzo and I will be back then.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: See you there. Enjoy the games.
• 25:23
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